壶瓶山蒲儿根 hu ping shan pu er gen

Herbs, rhizomatous, with leafy stems; stolons absent. Rhizomes ca. 10 mm in diam. Stems solitary, erect, 16-60 cm tall, simple, pubescent. Radical leaves long petiolate; petiole 5-20 cm, pubescent, base expanded, not auriculate; blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, reniform to orbicular-reniform, 4.5-12 × 5-13 cm, abaxially sparsely villous or sometimes glabrescent, adaxially pubescent, palmately veined, base shallowly to deeply cordate, margin very indistinctly repand-dentate, apex obtuse to acute. Upper stem leaves smaller, with shorter petioles. Capitula many in apical compound corymbs; peduncles 1-4 cm, pubescent or sometimes sparsely to densely villous. Involucres campanulate, 7-10 × 6-7 mm, ecalyculate; phyllaries 10-14, green, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, ca. 7 × 1.5 mm, herbaceous, pubescent, apex fimbriate-ciliate and acuminate or acute. Ray florets ca. 13; corolla tube ca. 3 mm, glabrous; lamina yellow, oblong-elliptic, 10-14 × 2.5-4 mm, 6- or 7-veined, apically 3-denticulate. Disk florets many; corolla ca. 5 mm, tube ca. 4 mm, limb campanulate; lobes ovate-lanceolate. Anthers ca. 1.5 mm, base obtuse, appendages ovate-oblong. Style branches ca. 0.8 mm, apex truncate. Achenes cylindric, 1-1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous. Pappus white, ca. 3 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jun. 2n = 48*.

● Broad-leaved forest margins; 1000-1600 m. Hubei (Wufeng), Hunan (Shimen).

Sinosenecio hupingshanensis is similar to S. baojingensis and S. denticulatus in posture, the ray floret lamina 6- or 7-veined, and the achenes glabrous and pappose. From the former, it differs in the leaf blade reniform or orbicular-reniform, margin repand-dentate, smaller size, and much shorter stature; from the latter, it differs in the petioles expanded basally but never auriculate and the shorter stature.